For One More Day
by J.Kaufer
Summary: A screenplay is based on the novel For One More Day by Mitch Albom. If you had one more day to spend with a deceased loved one, what would you do? What would you say? How would you feel?
1. Opening Credits

**Author's Note:** This screenplay is based on the novel For One More Day by Mitch Albom. I am in no way affiliated with the author, nor with the publisher or any aspect of this novel. I don't own anything, and there are some direct lines taken from the novel. I did encorporate some of my own ideas within the screenplay as well. Please, no haters, but criticism is appericiated. Read and review please!

**For One More Day**

_written by J.Kaufer_

_based on the novel _For One More Day _by Mitch Albom_

**OPENING CREDITS:**

**A montage of footage is playing**

**The song "Barriers" by Aereogramme is playing in the background**

1. "_I thought the fight was over_

_All battles won_

_I thought you'd lit your blindfolds_

_Watch them burn_

_I thought that I could show you_

_All that I've found_

_But barriers dictate all sight and all sound_"

A man is seen in a run down diner, furiously scribbling into his notebook. His face is unable to be seen, yet the audience sees him getting frustrated with what he's written, erases it aggressively, and begins to write again.

**CAST MEMBERS and PRODUCTION STAFF NAMES PERIODICALLY APPEAR ON SCREEN**

2. _"You noticed how we talk and how_

_We play our games_

_Leather bound appeal to_

_Change our ways_

_All I wanted was to show you_

_All that I've found_

_No exits, no answers, no prophecy bound"_

An empty lake at sunset is shown, with a forest behind the lake. A glimpse of one house in the forest is able to be seen.

"**FOR ONE MORE DAY" APPEARS ON THE SCREEN**

3. _"Oh, let me tell the truth_

_And let me come alive_

_Let me build bridges into your life_

_I'm sick of being torn again and again_

_I don't need conditions to let you in"_

What appears to be old footage of a family from the early 1960's begins to play. There is a mother, a father, a boy around 8 years old and a young girl around 3 years old eating dinner, laughing, dancing, playing.

4. _"I never meant to hurt you or_

_Drive you away_

_The barriers we've built, looks like there_

_Here to stay"_

Old footage of the same mother, the boy now around 15 years old, and the girl around 10 years old are sitting quietly, eating dinner. No one is smiling, there is obviously tension.

**ON SCREEN (WHITE LETTERS, SOLID BLACK BACKGROUND):**

**When he went blundering back to God**

**His songs half written, his work half done**

**Who knows what paths his bruised feet trod,**

**What hills of peace or pain he won?**

**I hope God smiled and took his hand,**

**And said, "Poor truant, passionate fool!**

**Life's book is hard to understand:**

**Why couldst thou not remain at school?"**

**-Charles Hanson Towne**


	2. Scene One

**SCENE ONE:**

The man is sitting in the diner, scribbling his ideas and obviously getting mad at what he's written. The man is now able to be seen. The man is **MITCH ALBOM**, a middle aged man who is a struggling author. He is sitting at the counter, not paying attention to the fact he is the only customer in the restaurant. An African-American middle age **WAITRESS** walks over to him and stands behind the counter, facing him. The **WAITRESS** is from the South and has a moderately heavy southern accent.

**WAITRESS**

Anything else, honey?

**MITCH**

No thanks, although a good idea would be nice.

**WAITRESS**

What'cha doing anyways?

**MITCH**

Writing a book, or at least attempting to.

**WAITRESS**

Oh, so you're a published author? You write books and stuff?

**MITCH**

Well, soon-to-be published author, hopefully. If I can get this piece of shit to develop.

**WAITRESS**

What'cha writing about?

**MITCH**

Nothing right now. No good story line. I've traveled across the entire country, hoping to just get one God damn good idea. Nothing.

**MITCH** goes back to scribbling and erasing, as the **WAITRESS** stares at him, bewildered by the fact that this man is so angry at his progress and how determined he is to develop a story.

**MITCH (voice over)**

I'm Mitch Albom, struggling writer. Determined to publish my first novel, yet as of now, no such luck. The problem isn't the fact that I'm not talented, but that there is absolutely no interesting story that people would want to read that has not been written yet. A people-eating shark in the deep, mysterious ocean? Done. My story needs to be interesting, since having your first novel top the best-sellers list is extremely rare.

**WAITRESS**

If you're looking for a story, try going across the street to that old baseball field.

(She points straight ahead towards the window, the camera follows her finger and zooms into a baseball field with a brief view of a man (**CHICK BENETTO**) sitting on the bleachers by himself)

Now _there's_ a story.

**MITCH**

(NOT LOOKING UP AT THE **WAITRESS**)

Sorry to say it, but I hear that a lot

**WAITRESS**

No really honey! There's a story. That man, his name's Chick Benetto. Played pro ball once, I think a World Series.

**MITCH**

Is that so..

**WAITRESS**

Yep! Tried to kill himself too.

**MITCH** immediately drops his pencil and looks up at the **WAITRESS**

**MITCH** immediately gets up and begins to walk towards the baseball field. The camera follows him out.

**MITCH** **(voice over)**

What you are about to see is a story about a family and, as there is a ghost involved, you might call it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone. You may not believe the story. Yet, ask yourself this: Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back. (pause)

What if you got it back?


End file.
